[2][3][4] Set in San Fernando Valley and Hungary in 1997, the story revolves around a late-stage cancer patient, Alice; her two markedly different sons, one a translator, the other a soap star; and a seemingly unconnected Hungarian playwright named László Lázár.

"[8] The novel was well received by Publishers Weekly, with the reviewer praising Miller's "elegant, resonant prose" and "brilliant dexterity" with respect to his intertwined plot-lines, and stating that "this book breathes with compassion and honesty, and with the rare quality called hope".

[10] These views were coupled in the Telegraph, with the reviewer praising Miller's "stylistic polish", "considerable flair for characterisation" and "superbly realised" three-dimensional characters.

[11] Reviewing for the New Statesman, Hugo Barnacle was more critical of the novel, finding the prose "self-consciously literary" and commenting that it "doesn't quite pay its way".

Waters found the plot to be "disappointingly straightforward", the language to be "terse, almost perfunctory" and the female characters to be "drawn with pencil".